The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford

By: Jean Stafford

Narrated by: Elisabeth Rodgers

These Pulitzer Prize-winning stories represent the major short works of fiction by one of the most distinctively American stylists of her day. Jean Stafford communicates the small details of loneliness and connection, the search for freedom, and the desire to belong, that not only illuminate whole lives but also convey with an elegant economy of words the sense of the place and time in which her protagonists find themselves. The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford includes the acclaimed story "An Influx of Poets", which has never before appeared in book form.

©2005 Nora Cosgrove. Introduction © 2005 by Joyce Carol Oates (P)2020 Blackstone Publishing

Each story was well written

On a journey to read every Pulitzer Prize book, and this one stood out as one of my favorites

dark, sad and tragic, but moving and beautiful

These stories are quintessentially American. Each character is real and identifiable. And although Stafford's vocabulary is immense and her prose is lyrical the people were nonetheless accessible and likable. I knew nothing of Stafford before deciding to read all of the Pulitzer winners, and although I am not always a fan of short stories, she won me over.

The stories are often dark, sad and tragic and still the wit is so clever that I often found myself laughing out loud. Often the stories have ambiguous endings. Often they made me tear up. The loneliness throughout is devastating and completely relatable. Each of them is seeking peace and happiness. They desire contentment. But we also recognize ourselves in them because we have experienced the forlorn and devastating emotions that come from feeling alienated.

The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford is divided into four parts, where the stories are about Americans living abroad, people living in Boston, people located in the Midwest and some in Manhattan. They range in ages from young children to the elderly. They cross all social norms. Some are wealthy but most are not. Some are married. And most of the characters are women, each of which is vivid and real. I found the collection smartly feminist, with each character exploring the many roles of women. She pushes gender norms, and makes the reader think, but it is all wrapped up in an enjoyable collection.

Slow and uninteresting

Stafford’s short stories surprisingly didn’t grab me. They seemed lonely, bitter and unmoving. Perhaps a good read on a cold, rainy day.